A WOMAN who left her tag behind when she went off on holiday to Gran Canaria has escaped a jail sentence.

Laura McArthur, 23, of Cluny Road, Dunfermline, was warned that she was on her “final chance” when she appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday (Wednesday) to face the music.

She had previously been placed on a restriction of liberty order as punishment after admitting that on February 28, 2017, she assaulted a woman in James Street, Dunfermline, by repeatedly kicking her on the head to her severe injury.

Her solicitor, Rosni Joshi, said her client hadn’t worn the tag since March 4 and said her actions were as a result of “upset” in her circumstances.

She told the court that McArthur had received some news which led to her circumstances “deteriorating fairly significantly” and her committing the breach.

She added: “Alcohol and substance misuse remains a concern. Miss McArthur appears to be addressing these issues that have been prevalent throughout the order. 

“She is still fairly young and has no outstanding matters before the court. She is not someone who has any great involvement with the court system. 

“She is under no illusions that if the court takes the view that time had run out in respect of the orders, she would be facing a significant custodial sentence.”

Sheriff Charles Macnair said McArthur had been placed on a community order and the restriction of liberty order – which required her to wear the tag – for a serious offence which was assault to severe injury.

“You didn’t comply with the previous order because you couldn’t do the work and the restriction of liberty order was put in place,” he told her.

"You breached that once and you admitted that breach then, far worse, you decided to go off on holiday at the beginning of March to Gran Canaria, leaving your monitoring equipment behind.

“You are very close to having the whole structure of a non-custodial sentence fall about your ears and for you to spend a significant period of time in custody. I am just persuaded to give you one more chance but you must treat this as a final chance. 

“If you do not comply, then it will be extremely difficult for the court to see any appropriate alternative but custody.”

Sheriff Macnair revoked the existing restriction of liberty order and agreed to vary McArthur’s existing community payback order.

She will now have to carry out a total of 250 hours of unpaid work within nine months and was also ordered to attend drug and alcohol counselling as directed by her supervising officer.